Matteo Zuppi

Matteo Zuppi was born in Rome on 11 October 1955, the fifth of six children. From 1973 he was involved with the Community of Sant'Egidio. After a degree in letters and philosophy at La Sapienza, he entered the seminary of Palestrina and earned a bachelor's degree in theology at the Pontifical Lateran University. Ordained a priest on 9 May 1981, he served as parochial vicar and then, for ten years from 2000, as parish priest of Santa Maria in Trastevere; from 2000 to 2012 he was general ecclesiastical assistant of the Community of Sant'Egidio, having acted with Andrea Riccardi as a mediator in the Mozambique peace process. On 31 January 2012 Benedict XVI appointed him titular Bishop of Villanova and auxiliary of Rome; he was ordained a bishop on 14 April 2012. On 27 October 2015 Pope Francis promoted him to the metropolitan see of Bologna, where he was installed on 12 December 2015. Pope Francis created him a cardinal at the consistory of 5 October 2019, in the Order of Priests, with the title of Sant'Egidio. On 24 May 2022 he was appointed President of the Italian Bishops' Conference. Since 1 January 2024 he has been a judge of the Court of Cassation of Vatican City State. He is a member of the Dicasteries for Promoting Integral Human Development, for the Eastern Churches and for Evangelization, and of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (source: Holy See Press Office).